(Volume 107/Number 3)

ARTnews  |  March 2008

Read Online Now

The Indecisive Image Eric Bryant

In pictures of ethereal specks and kaleidoscopic explosions of color, photographers are embracing abstraction

Making 1,200 Museums Bloom Barbara Pollack

China, where the term “curator” did not exist ten years ago, is in the midst of a museum boom. But its fledgling institutions face many challenges—not least establishing an infrastructure for cultural activities, raising funds, battling bureaucracy, and challenging censorship

Also in this Issue

Setting a Date Thane Peterson

New high-tech devices and analytic procedures are helping conservators date black-and-white photographs more precisely than ever before. The advances will reduce fraud, influence the marketplace, and even revise art history

Dzama's Dramas Richard B. Woodward

The cute coexists with the sinister in the world of Marcel Dzama, where bears wear suits, trees have arms, and owls fly off with little children

'A Wonderful Journey' Milton Esterow

Philippe de Montebello reflects on 30 years of pleasures, challenges, orchestrating, negotiating, encouraging curators, resisting the whims of fashion, and what makes him sweat

 

Departments

Art Talk
Jay-Z, Takashi Murakami, Kanye West, Kehinde Wiley, LL Cool J, Salt-N-Pepa, Spinderella, 50 Cent, Reverend Run, Snoop Dogg, Russell Simmons, Alexander Melamid, Dan “the Man” Melamid, Marlee Matlin, Jennifer Beals, Cybill Shepherd, Catherine Opie, Lari Pittman, Ilene Chaiken, Kathy Greenberg, Michele Abbott, Shaun Caley Regen, Ann Philbin, Yoshua Okon, Stefan Sagmeister, Shamim Momin, Richard Tuttle, Heide Fasnacht, Peter Beard, Tina Barney, James Crump

National News
WASHINGTON, D.C. “Litmus test” for Smithsonian LOS ANGELES Caught on tape

International News
MONTREAL “Anything but voluntary” ROME Antiquities restitution: “A general sea change” SPOTLIGHT Manuel Borja-Villel: Turning a museum into a city HEIDELBERG Mona’s missing link in ink? LONDON Neil MacGregor: director turned diplomat SÃO PAULO Brazil foundation builds green PARIS Flavor of Louvre

Books
The Holy Place: Architecture, Ideology, and History in Russia By Konstantin Akinsha and Grigorij Kozlov, with Sylvia Hochfield • Memories of a Collector By Giuseppe Panza • Monuments: America’s History in Art and Memory By Judith Dupré

Critic's Pick
Birgit Brenner: Grim Fairy Tales
Megan Heuer

 

Reviews

NEW YORK Charles Ray; “Archive Fever”; Tom Burr; Julian Schnabel; Mary Frank; Willem de Kooning; Romare Bearden; Stuart Davis; “Calder and Melotti: Lyrical Constructions”; Tom Wesselmann; “Mask”; Ray Smith; Zhang Peili; Susan Breen; Isaac Julien; Frank Gehry; Michael Kenna; Biala; Maureen Kelleher; “Observing the Edge”

NATIONAL Aspen Sarah Charlesworth Santa Fe “The Disappeared” Phoenix “Remix” San Francisco Kate Eric; Naomie Kremer West Hollywood Karl Benjamin Reno Wolf Kahn

INTERNATIONAL Vienna “Shooting Back” London Allora & Calzadilla Paris Cameron Jamie Berlin Norbert Bisky Valencia, Spain Dennis Ashbaugh Venice “Artempo” Mexico City Minerva Cuevas